Montana Leads Way in Junking 2010 "Citizens United" Decision

Commenters have said that the first step out of the mess we’re in is to get rid of the Supreme Court’s bonkers Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission decision of 2010, which held that corporations are people — entitled to the same First Amendment protection as the rest of us, Robert Reich wrote in his newsletter.

Between 2008 and 2024, reported “independent” expenditures by outside groups exploded by more than 28-fold — from $144 million to $4.21 billion.

The Citizens United decision opened the floodgates to unlimited super PAC spending and undisclosed dark money we suffer from today.

Between 2008 and 2024, reported “independent” expenditures by outside groups exploded by more than 28-fold — from $144 million to $4.21 billion.

Unreported money also skyrocketed, with dark money groups spending millions influencing the 2024 election.

The Citizens United decision opened the floodgates to unlimited super PAC spending and undisclosed dark money we suffer from today.

Between 2008 and 2024, reported “independent” expenditures by outside groups exploded by more than 28-fold — from $144 million to $4.21 billion. Unreported money also skyrocketed, with dark money groups spending millions influencing the 2024 election.

Most people I talk with assume that the only way to stop corporate and dark money in US politics is either to wait for the Supreme Court to undo Citizens United or amend the US Constitution.

“But there’s another way! I want to tell you about it because there’s a good chance it will work,” Reich wrote.

It will be on the ballot next November in Montana.

Individual states — either through their legislators or their citizens wielding ballot initiatives — have the authority to limit corporate political activity and dark money spending because they determine what powers corporations have. In US law, corporations are creatures of state laws.

For two centuries, the power to define their form, limits, and privileges has belonged only to the states. Corporations have no powers at all until a state government grants them some.

In the 1819 Supreme Court case Trustees of Dartmouth College v. Woodward, Chief Justice John Marshall established that: “A corporation is an artificial being, invisible, intangible, and existing only in contemplation of law. Being the mere creature of law, it possesses only those properties which the charter of its creation confers upon it, either expressly or as incidental to its very existence.”